Vancouver Island Fishery Inspection Blitz Checks 300 Vehicles and Vessels

On July 19, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) launched its largest coordinated roadside enforcement operation on Vancouver Island. Eight to nine teams of federal fishery officers, together with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, the National Fisheries Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Transport’s commercial‑vehicle inspectors, set up checkpoints from Port Hardy in the north to Victoria in the south.

The blitz inspected roughly 200 personal vehicles, 18 commercial transport vehicles and 85 vessels. More than 90 violation tickets were issued, mostly for illegal processing of legally caught fish and for undersized Chinook salmon (minimum 62 cm, maximum 80 cm). Shaun Tadei, a DFO field supervisor in Nanaimo, described the effort as “a success” and noted it was the first time such island‑wide simultaneous roadside inspections had been conducted. The operation was timed to the first weekend after the seasonal Chinook conservation measures were lifted, serving as a reminder to recreational fishers as the summer season ramps up.